The present invention relates generally to a method of managing foraging areas. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of using an animal feed supplement to manage foraging areas.
A host of habitat and non-habitat variables influences ungulate (e.g., cattle, sheep, goats, lamas, horses, deer, elk, and bison) selection of foraging areas and habitat. In foraging areas where fire is introduced, whether intentionally or otherwise, foraging patterns of ungulates are affected. For at least two years post-fire, ungulates often prefer areas that have been burned compared to those that are unburned. This is because fire burns the old, cured and dead plant materials, which are later replaced by fresh new growth in the following growth period.
Fires, whether they are wild or controlled-burn type fires, often burn in a manner that results in a “mosaic burn” pattern where the burned area comprises intermixed, adjacent burned and unburned sub-areas. Because ungulates prefer the resulting fresh new growth that soon appears in the burned sub-areas, the burned sub-areas often become over-utilized (i.e., overgrazed). Thus, the ungulates overgraze the burned sub-areas while ignoring abundant or high quality forage in adjacent unburned sub-areas. This “localized overgrazing” causes several significant problems in the context of ranching. First, it reduces the rancher's profit because it wastes forage. Second, the livestock trample the new vegetation in the burned sub-areas, making it difficult for the new growth to reestablish, mature, and go to seed. Burned sub-areas that have difficulty with the reestablishment of vegetation suffer from topsoil erosion due to wind and rain. Eroded soil runs off into nearby water sources, resulting in poor water quality. Finally, localized overgrazing prevents the most effective return of nutrients to the soil because manure is not spread to its best effect.
Because the burned sub-areas can be subject to overgrazing, ranchers are often faced with the options of either not grazing a mosaic burn area or fencing-out the burned sub-areas from the unburned sub-areas. Neither option is ideal, because both present costs to the rancher in the form of reduced grazing capacity and/or increased fencing costs. Also, both options prevent the benefits provided by moderate grazing of the burned sub-areas. Moderate grazing is beneficial because it actually helps native grasses to reestablish by breaking up grass clumps, distributing seed, and providing much-needed nutrients through the distribution of manure.
There is a need in the art for a method of controlling grazing distribution of ungulates that allows the beneficial grazing of burned sub-areas within a mosaic burn area without overgrazing the burned sub-areas.